Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Loneliness Analysis

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Mother Teresa once said, "Loneliness is a man's worst poverty.” Living life without companionship blossoms suffering, yet is it an inevitable part of life, as shown through the characters in the novel, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. Each character in this novel, particularly Curley’s wife, exhibits loneliness all throughout the novel. While Curley’s wife is introduced as a flirtatious “tart” through exaggerated rumors, is, in reality, proved to be more isolated than what meets the eye, through her gender, appearance, and relationship with Curley. Curley’s wife is the only female living on the ranch which plays an important role in developing her loneliness. She symbolizes the role of women in the 1930’s when they were considered trophies …show more content…
In one circumstance, while looking for Curley, when he was actually at home, “She was suddenly apprehensive, ‘’Bye boys,’ she called into the bunk house, and she hurried away.”(p.32) Due to the fact she turned fearful when mentioned that her husband was at home, suggests that Curley does not approve of her leaving the house. Bearing in mind that Curley works the whole day, leaves his wife alone at home with no one to talk to since she is forbidden to leave the house. Adding onto Curley’s draconian rules considering his wife, it is evident that he may also abuse her, playing in with her isolation further more. Moreover, on page 89, Curley’s wife confesses to Lennie saying, “‘Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before… I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” Here we see that Curley’s wife hides the fact that she does not like Curley, yet does not care to elaborate the reason she despises him, and shares this information with Lennie, the most likely person to forget her proclamation. Due to these reasons, it is likely Curley abuses her and leaves she is left alone due to fear similar to the apprehension mentioned in the earlier quote. Later in the novel, we see how unhealthy their relationship is on after Curley’s wife learned that Lennie crushed Curley’s hand, saying, “‘I’m glad you bust up Curley a little bit… Sometimes I’d like to bust him myself.’” Taking into account that Curley’s wife has sadistic views toward her husband, further pushes the idea that Curley would abuse her. Having the upper hand over her husband does not seem like a likely thing to happen, which is why she is rather glad Lennie did it instead, taking into account how strong he